Hey everyone!
As you may have heard; back in January, we announced the development of a Burst Classic format. This format was designed to give Single and Dual Layers a dedicated place to shine, and to also provide Bladers with a brand-new experience, away from the stamina-focused format of Standard.
For the most part, this format was very well received, and many Bladers immediately got stuck in with the development process, giving their comments and opinions on what worked, what didn't work, and what they would change to maintain the balance.
After 6 months of development, experimentation and data collection, I'm very pleased to announce that we've now completed our experimentation period, and our final Burst Classic rulebook is now available! Effective Monday July 8th, Burst Classic will become a fully-fledged ranked format, and all communities will be able to officially run this format in it's latest and greatest form!
What are you waiting for? Take a look at the rulebook!
An Overview of the Final Restrictions List
A huge appeal of Burst Classic has been a return to a simplistic and more naturally balanced time. As such, we haven't felt the need to inherently ban parts from the pool that we're focusing on; the 2016/17 Dual Layer format was quite balanced in itself - save for a few Layers causing issues, which we made sure to hit from the get go. The addition of newer Drivers has also helped to keep the game feeling fresh and new to newbies and veterans alike, and has helped to enable some combination styles that weren't originally possible.
That said, some of the recent Burst-defying Dash Drivers have proven to be too much within this format and, as many of you will have seen in our planning, we were very hung up on how to approach these for a very long time. Thankfully, by running experimental events with all Dash Drivers permitted, we've been able to find a balance that we're happy with, and that we think the community will be happy with as well.
Without further ado, this is our final banlist:
LEGAL PARTS:
Energy Layers
✔ All Single Energy Layers
✔ Most Dual Energy Layers (see exceptions below)
Forge Discs
✔ Most Non-Numbered Forge Discs (see exceptions below)
Performance Tips/Drivers
✔ All Performance Tips from Single and Dual Energy Layer Beyblades
✔ Most God Performance Tips (see exceptions below)
✔ All Non-Plus Cho-Z Performance Tips
✔ All SlingShock Performance Tips
✔ All Gatinko Performance Tips
✔ Most Dash Drivers (see exceptions below)
BANNED PARTS:
Energy Layers
✘ Dark Deathscyther (TT Only)
✘ Jormuntor J2 (Hasbro only)
✘ Lost Longinus/Luinor L2
✘ Storm Pegasis
✘ All God, Evolution, Cho-Z, Turbo & Gatinko Layers
Forge Discs
✘ All Core Disks (e.g: 1, 4, 7, 10, Aero' etc)
✘ All Disks released as part of the Gatinko Layer System (Blitz, Hurricane, Sting etc).
✘ Ωuter
✘ Zenith
Performance Tips/Drivers
✘ Bearing (Hasbro only)
✘ Atomic
✘ Accel’, Zephyr’, Blow’, Destroy’
✘ Xtend+
This list has largely remained unchanged since it's last revision during the experimental period, though we've relaxed our restrictions on our "all Dash and Plus Drivers" ban to only affect Accel', Blow', Destroy', Xtend+ and Zephyr' now. We feel that these Drivers specifically had a significant effect on the Classic metagame and, in many scenarios, created a situation where certain combinations were nigh-impossible to Burst, and also had the stamina potency to outspin many of the dedicated Stamina options.
As usual, we will continue to keep an eye on our restrictions list over this format's lifespan, and make changes according to the needs of the format. But for now, we feel that this is the best state we can launch the format in.
Once again, thank you to everyone who ran experimental events and gave their input to help us gather the data we needed to make these decisions!
New Organizer Resource: One Page Burst Classic Format – Part Restrictions & Format-Specific Rules Overview
Because we understand that communicating all of the specific restrictions to tournament attendees can be challenging, we've put together a resource for Organizers to print and bring multiple copies of to their Burst Classic Format events: a one page overview of the part restrictions and format-specific rules.
Please click the button below to check it out!
Future Considerations
While we're launching Burst Classic, this doesn't mean that our work is over. As stated before, we'll continue to regulate the format with regular ruling and restriction list updates, similar to what our Burst Standard format receives.
Currently, we're keeping a close eye on parts like Zeta', which have proven to be very potent in some of the experimental events, but slightly lack the consistency to make it onto the restriction list.
We're also keeping an eye on the Attack/Defense/Stamina balance, and we're fully aware that Attack is in a stronger place than the other two when used properly, and that Defense might need a minor boost to counteract this. However, right now, we feel that Attack's stronger position is justified due to the additional skill required to control many potent combinations, and also to help it thrive a little bit more while it finds it's place in Standard again.
So what about Limited?
Soon™
In the past, I've touched on our plans to implement a Burst Limited format, and our progression on developing this format. I'd like to update that we're still discussing and planning this format, and it is very much still planned to enter the experimental phase towards the beginning of the new year.
Limited is planned to be a God/Evolution/Turbo-based Limited format, so we have a significantly larger part pool to consider when balancing and regulating this format, so we appreciate the patience while we develop this.
That said, our plan is currently to let Classic be the focus of attention alongside Standard to allow it to grow and gain it's own identity for the rest of the year. Implementing Limited too soon would harm the progress and adoption of Classic, and would undermine the efforts from the community in building the format.
Once again, on behalf of myself and the whole Organized Play team, thanks to everyone who took part in the development process of this format to help make this a reality! Now, head on out, host your own official Classic events! We look forward to seeing how Classic evolves over time!
As you may have heard; back in January, we announced the development of a Burst Classic format. This format was designed to give Single and Dual Layers a dedicated place to shine, and to also provide Bladers with a brand-new experience, away from the stamina-focused format of Standard.
For the most part, this format was very well received, and many Bladers immediately got stuck in with the development process, giving their comments and opinions on what worked, what didn't work, and what they would change to maintain the balance.
After 6 months of development, experimentation and data collection, I'm very pleased to announce that we've now completed our experimentation period, and our final Burst Classic rulebook is now available! Effective Monday July 8th, Burst Classic will become a fully-fledged ranked format, and all communities will be able to officially run this format in it's latest and greatest form!
What are you waiting for? Take a look at the rulebook!
An Overview of the Final Restrictions List
A huge appeal of Burst Classic has been a return to a simplistic and more naturally balanced time. As such, we haven't felt the need to inherently ban parts from the pool that we're focusing on; the 2016/17 Dual Layer format was quite balanced in itself - save for a few Layers causing issues, which we made sure to hit from the get go. The addition of newer Drivers has also helped to keep the game feeling fresh and new to newbies and veterans alike, and has helped to enable some combination styles that weren't originally possible.
That said, some of the recent Burst-defying Dash Drivers have proven to be too much within this format and, as many of you will have seen in our planning, we were very hung up on how to approach these for a very long time. Thankfully, by running experimental events with all Dash Drivers permitted, we've been able to find a balance that we're happy with, and that we think the community will be happy with as well.
Without further ado, this is our final banlist:
LEGAL PARTS:
Energy Layers
✔ All Single Energy Layers
✔ Most Dual Energy Layers (see exceptions below)
Forge Discs
✔ Most Non-Numbered Forge Discs (see exceptions below)
Performance Tips/Drivers
✔ All Performance Tips from Single and Dual Energy Layer Beyblades
✔ Most God Performance Tips (see exceptions below)
✔ All Non-Plus Cho-Z Performance Tips
✔ All SlingShock Performance Tips
✔ All Gatinko Performance Tips
✔ Most Dash Drivers (see exceptions below)
BANNED PARTS:
Energy Layers
✘ Dark Deathscyther (TT Only)
✘ Jormuntor J2 (Hasbro only)
✘ Lost Longinus/Luinor L2
✘ Storm Pegasis
✘ All God, Evolution, Cho-Z, Turbo & Gatinko Layers
Forge Discs
✘ All Core Disks (e.g: 1, 4, 7, 10, Aero' etc)
✘ All Disks released as part of the Gatinko Layer System (Blitz, Hurricane, Sting etc).
✘ Ωuter
✘ Zenith
Performance Tips/Drivers
✘ Bearing (Hasbro only)
✘ Atomic
✘ Accel’, Zephyr’, Blow’, Destroy’
✘ Xtend+
This list has largely remained unchanged since it's last revision during the experimental period, though we've relaxed our restrictions on our "all Dash and Plus Drivers" ban to only affect Accel', Blow', Destroy', Xtend+ and Zephyr' now. We feel that these Drivers specifically had a significant effect on the Classic metagame and, in many scenarios, created a situation where certain combinations were nigh-impossible to Burst, and also had the stamina potency to outspin many of the dedicated Stamina options.
As usual, we will continue to keep an eye on our restrictions list over this format's lifespan, and make changes according to the needs of the format. But for now, we feel that this is the best state we can launch the format in.
Once again, thank you to everyone who ran experimental events and gave their input to help us gather the data we needed to make these decisions!
New Organizer Resource: One Page Burst Classic Format – Part Restrictions & Format-Specific Rules Overview
Because we understand that communicating all of the specific restrictions to tournament attendees can be challenging, we've put together a resource for Organizers to print and bring multiple copies of to their Burst Classic Format events: a one page overview of the part restrictions and format-specific rules.
Please click the button below to check it out!
Future Considerations
While we're launching Burst Classic, this doesn't mean that our work is over. As stated before, we'll continue to regulate the format with regular ruling and restriction list updates, similar to what our Burst Standard format receives.
Currently, we're keeping a close eye on parts like Zeta', which have proven to be very potent in some of the experimental events, but slightly lack the consistency to make it onto the restriction list.
We're also keeping an eye on the Attack/Defense/Stamina balance, and we're fully aware that Attack is in a stronger place than the other two when used properly, and that Defense might need a minor boost to counteract this. However, right now, we feel that Attack's stronger position is justified due to the additional skill required to control many potent combinations, and also to help it thrive a little bit more while it finds it's place in Standard again.
So what about Limited?
Soon™
In the past, I've touched on our plans to implement a Burst Limited format, and our progression on developing this format. I'd like to update that we're still discussing and planning this format, and it is very much still planned to enter the experimental phase towards the beginning of the new year.
Limited is planned to be a God/Evolution/Turbo-based Limited format, so we have a significantly larger part pool to consider when balancing and regulating this format, so we appreciate the patience while we develop this.
That said, our plan is currently to let Classic be the focus of attention alongside Standard to allow it to grow and gain it's own identity for the rest of the year. Implementing Limited too soon would harm the progress and adoption of Classic, and would undermine the efforts from the community in building the format.
Once again, on behalf of myself and the whole Organized Play team, thanks to everyone who took part in the development process of this format to help make this a reality! Now, head on out, host your own official Classic events! We look forward to seeing how Classic evolves over time!